ail
verb
- be ill
noun
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L316136 on Wikidata ↗Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈeɪ̯l/ / [ˈeɪ̯l]
adj
Etymology: Inherited from Middle English eyle, eile, from Old English eġle (“hideous, loathsome, hateful, horrid, troublesome, grievous, painful”). Cognate with Gothic 𐌰𐌲𐌻𐌿𐍃 (aglus, “hard, difficult”).
- Painful; troublesome.
noun
Etymology: Inherited from Middle English eile, eyle, eiȝle, from Old English eġl (“an ail; awn; beard of barley; mote”), from Proto-Germanic *agilō (“awn”), related to *ahaz (“ear (of grain)”). Cognate with German Achel, Egel, Ägel.
- The awn of barley or other types of corn.
verb
Etymology: Inherited from Middle English eilen, from Old English eġlan, eġlian (“to trouble, afflict”), from Proto-West Germanic *aglijan, from Proto-Germanic *aglijaną (“to trouble, vex”), cognate with Gothic 𐌰𐌲𐌻𐌾𐌰𐌽 (agljan, “to distress”).
- To cause to suffer; to trouble, afflict. (Now chiefly in interrogative or indefinite constructions.)
“Have some chicken soup. It's good for what ails you.”
“What aileth thee, Hagar?”
- To be ill; to suffer; to be troubled.
“When he ails ever so little […] he is so peevish.”